Weekly K-Pop Music Chart 2013 - September Week 1

EXO’s “Growl” is No. 1 for the third straight week, becoming the first song in three months to stay on top for three weeks.  The last song to accomplish this feat was Lee Hyori’s “Bad Girl.”  With “Growl” still winning in this week’s music shows and several challengers coming shorter than expected, it is possible that “Growl” will become the first song this year four weeks on top of our chart. It will also solidify the credential of this song as one of our “Song Of The Year” candidate. 

Moving up five spots to No. 2 is Bumkey’s “Attraction,” his first top three hit. Its score is still far behind “Growl” but is expected to close the gap next week. Bumkey is looking to become the first rookie artist to top our chart this year. He has already positioned himself as a frontrunner of this year’s best new artist.

There are three new songs in the top 10 this week.  Moving up 11 spots to No. 3 is Seungri from Big Bang. His latest hit “Gotta Talk To U” is from his second solo mini-album “Let’s Talk About Love.” Seungri participated in writing “Gotta Talk To U” and also penned this mid-tempo R&B track by himself.  It shows Seungri’s growth as an artist and his further development as a producer. Despite the big jump to the top three this week, “Gotta Talk To U” fell short in many rankings and it hasn’t captured any music show wins yet, a rarity by Big Bang members.  

One of the biggest jumps you’ll ever see on our chart is at No. 7. Ex Wonder Girls‘ member  Sunmi has come back as a solo artist, and her first solo hit “24 Hours” moved up 43 spots to No. 7 this week.  After refining her vocals and stage presences, Sunmi re-debuts and transforms from an innocent to a mature image. “24 Hours” was written and produced by JYP. It holds lyrics about a woman whose eyes are opened when she finds out what love is through a man.

Moving up 11 spots to No. 10 is titled “Crazy Of You” by SISTAR’s Hyorin  It is from the OST of SBS Drama “Master’s Sun.” Through this ballad track, fans will see a different side of Hyorin that they won’t normally see in SISTAR.  “Crazy Of You” is only the second drama OST song to hit the top 10 this year. The other one was Gummy’s “Snow Flower” from “That Winter, The Wind Blows” which went to No. 7 back in March.

Taking a closer look in the top 10 this week and we find seven of the ten songs are digital singles. The digital movement continues to gain market share in the music industry and is being adopted even by big name artists now. While it is still difficult to hit No. 1 with a digital single, it is a convenient way for artists to release a song in between albums or in which they don’t plan to promote on music shows. One day we may see all top 10 hits in the form of digital singles. 

About the Soompi Music Chart:

Soompi Music Chart is unlike any other music charts or television rankings.  It takes into account rankings by various major music charts in Korea and airplay of each song, making it an unbiased and objective tally of what’s going on in the world of K-pop.  Our chart is composed of the following sources:

Air Monitor Chart – 15%
GAON Music Chart – 20%
Various Internet charts (Olleh, Bugs, Melon, Soribada) – 15%
Billboard Korea – 20% 
SBS Inkigayo Chart  – 10%
KBS Music Bank K-Chart – 10%
MNet M!Countdown Chart – 10%